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RESUME↗

Enhancing Option chain to help F&O traders make decisions faster

Options traders need speed and clarity, but traditional option chains often slow them down with scattered information and constant context switching.

This project reimagines the trading workflow by reducing friction, surfacing key insights, and helping traders make faster decisions.

Role

Sole designer

End-to-end ownership

Team

Kishore Krishna (PM)

Kashyap Bhanu Das (Tech Lead)

Timeline

Sep 2024 - Apr 2026

Before we dive in

What are options?

Imagine you think NIFTY, India's benchmark stock index, is going to rise.

Instead of buying it outright, you pay a small premium for the right to buy it later at today's price. If the market goes up, that premium can multiply into a much bigger profit. If you're wrong, you only lose the premium you paid.

Why the option chain exists?

Once you've decided to trade an option, the next challenge is deciding which one to buy.

For the same stock, there are hundreds of options across strikes and expiries. Prices change constantly, making it difficult to compare opportunities one by one.

The Option Chain brings every available option into one place, helping traders compare prices, spot patterns, and act quickly without switching screens.

Anatomy of an Option Chain

Problem deep dive

Traders couldn't analyze the market quickly

Heavy scrolling, limited data visibility and dense color-coding, made it difficult for traders to compare strikes quickly. In a fast-moving market, that often meant missing a good opportunity.

Visual overload

Header take one-third of the viewport

Large header limited the view to just 8 of 40+ strikes, causing frequent scrolling.

Visual overload from excess color-coding

Too many colors create visual noise, making key data harder to scan.

Poor scannability & customisation

Only one indicator is visible at a time. Viewing others requires an extra click.

Placing a trade took multiple steps

The Option Chain order flow wasn't built for the speed F&O trading demands. 4+ steps delayed order placement, causing traders to miss ideal entry prices.

~5.8 sec

Multiple steps made the journey slow

Managing positions required switching screens

Once a trade was placed, it didn't appear anywhere on the option chain. Traders had to switch screens to manage positions, making it easy to act on the wrong contract.

Confusion due to lack of position marker

The redesign had to improve the entire trading journey—from analyzing contracts to executing and managing positions.

Process & Iteration

Evolving the Option Chain header

Every iteration challenged what needed to stay visible by default, balancing faster access to critical information with a cleaner, more data-focused interface.

Existing

One-third of the viewport was consumed before any option data appeared.

Version 1

Prioritized live market data by moving the price into the header and dropping the page title.
Removed Search since traders landed on a pre-selected symbol.

Version 2

Moved Bid/Ask into Settings, since most traders didn't use it every session.

Merged four view tabs into one dropdown, trading one extra tap for a full row of visible strikes.

Final

Added a chart shortcut, reducing context switching during active trading.
Optimised dropdowns for compact layout.

Finding a way to show active positions

Each contract in the option chain needed a clear way to show a trader's open position. Here are a few iterations I explored:

❌ Reused the existing Positions icon, but it didn't show position side or quantity.

❌ Explored a colored B/S tag to show side, but it conflicted with the existing P&L colors, making it confusing.

❌ Used +/- quantity to show side, but it widened the strike cell, hid the OI change column, and didn't look tappable.

✅ Used a compact floating chip that preserved the layout while keeping quantity and P&L visible at a glance.

Option chain with positions marker

Solution

👀 Redesigned for faster scanning

The option chain was redesigned around three improvements. The header was reduced from 203px to 126px — a 38% reduction, making room for three additional rows of contracts.

Key indicators moved from a bottom sheet to 0 clicks, and the color palette was simplified from 9 colors to 6 using lower saturation for better readability and industry alignment.

Before → After

⚡️ Introducing scalper mode for faster execution

Scalper Mode moved stop loss, target, and position sizing into a one-time setup, cutting execution to 2 clicks and 2-3 seconds.

Scalper toggle

Kept Scalper inside Settings as a one-time preference, keeping the Option Chain focused and clutter-free.

Preset order preferences

Moved recurring order preferences into Settings, so traders configure them once instead of repeating them for every trade.

~3.0 sec

Reduced order-time decisions

Pre-configured order settings, leaving quantity as the only decision during execution.

Kept traders in the Option Chain

Displayed positions and order confirmations inline, removing unnecessary screen switches.

Outcomes

For a platform built around core F&O traders, the Option chain is one of its most critical experiences. This revamp helped serve more trading styles and strengthened FYERS' position in advanced trading.